Maiorana, P.C.

Patent Lawyers

Understanding Extensions


Most things that need to be filed with the Patent Office have a due date. This is normally calculated from the time the Patent Office “mails” the correspondence. On a typical Patent Office correspondence they mark this as the “mail date”, but sometimes they use other slang terms.

Most items can be extended, but a fee is involved. Some items (like an issue fee ) are not extendable.

Under the U.S. Patent Law Statutes, an item may not be extended beyond 6 months total, calculated from the mail date of the correspondence. For a typical Office Action (discussed here) the time to respond is 3 months. So 3 additional months of extensions are available. Certain actions, like a restriction (discussed here), have a 60 day period to reply. So 4 months of extensions would be available.

The cost for extensions are:
One month - $55 for a micro entity, $110 for a small entity and $220 for a large entity.
Two Months - $160 for a micro entity, $320 for a small entity and $640 for a large entity.
Three months - $370 for a micro entity, $740 for a small entity and $1,480 for a large entity.
Four months - $580 for a micro entity, $1,160 for a small entity and $2,320 for a large entity.

The Patent Office does not require you to file an extension ahead of time. The extensions are paid after the fact. So if you need to take a 1 month extension, you pay it at the time of filing, on the date that the response would be due (or before) along with the extension. For example, if you have a response to restriction requirement due on August 28, 2018, and you want to take an extension, you don’t need to do anything in August. You simply file the response in September, before the 28th, along with the fee for a 1 month extension.

Note how the extensions get progressively higher. We rarely take more than a 2 month extension. There are other procedures that can be used to minimize the need for a 3rd month extension that are typically cheaper.

In short, we can help minimize costs to work within your budget. Just give one of our patent attorneys a call to discuss your patent situation. MI - 586-498-0670 or CA - 408-890-6549.

  • Chris Maiorana
  • Updated February 2021
[1] Patent extensions are used in a variety of cases.
Topics: Patent Extensions, cost effective Patent Lawyers

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